Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 59

#MondayMotivation, #Inspiration, And #Wisdom - #Quotes For September 9th 2019

Caution is one thing and wavering is another.
~Aragorn

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
~John Gardner

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
~Voltaire

Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.
~Anne Lamott

The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
~George Carlin

Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.
~Roy T. Bennett

#FurkidFriday: August 2019's #Photos And #Video Of Lilie The #Westie And Logan The #Cavapoo

Hi everyone. This is Lilie the Westie.

Something terrible happened last week: my ball got lost. It was my most favourite ball in the whole world. The yellow rubbery one, that bounces real good. I was so sad when it got lost. It was all OK in the end though. Mummy and Daddy eventually found where it was. It took them a very long time to get it unstuck from where it was though. I was starting to think they wouldn't be able to. But they did it - even though it took hours and hours - and I got my ball back in the end. I was so happy!

Anyway, speaking of toys, a few weeks ago, on August 15th, Mummy got us some dinosaur toys. She gets us toys every time she has to get us food or anything from the petstore place, whether it's the one in town I sometimes go to with Daddy, or the one that makes the stuff come to us in boxes. Sometimes she takes photos, other times she just gives them to us without bothering to grab the flashy thing. But this time it was dinosaurs, and she did take photos. So, here are some photos of us when she gave them to us:


We love getting new toys, even if the toys somehow fall apart when we're playing with them. Totally not our faults... We have no idea how it happens. It couldn't possibly be us chewing on them or anything like that. Nope... Not us!

Ahem... Anyway...

My little brother, Logan, finally became smart. He has finally decided he loves the idea of walkies. He's now excited to go out for walkies, and disappointed when it's time to go home. You know? Like a normal dog. He even actually walks during it all, instead of expecting Mummy to carry him. Does the stairs himself now too. About time, if you ask me.

Since he'll now walk properly, Mummy and Daddy started taking him on to the beach. Here are some photos they took of Mummy taking him on to the beach during his first proper explore of the beach a few weeks ago, on August 20th:


Also, because I'm so super cute, here's a photo of me, which was taken the same day, when we were still on the beach:


Oh, and - since you can never have enough photos of us, so Mummy and I figured you'd like a couple more - here's a photo each of me and Logan on the beach a few days later, on August 23rd:


We haven't taken Logan close enough to really investigate the big water yet. He's not sure he wants to go too close to that much water anyhow - he's a big whimp about water - but mostly it's because either there have been lots of people out there, or the big water has been doing that thing where it's really far away when we're there. Mummy says we'll hopefully take him to check that out soon though. Probably when what she calls "Tourist season" is over, so there aren't so many people between us and the big water, and it will be easier to just go when it will be further up the beach.

Anyway, here's another picture of Logan, this one taken on August 25th. He does this cute thing where he smiles, so Daddy was trying to get a photo of that. I do cute things too, but they find it hard to get photos, because I stop when the flashy thing is pointing at me. But here's Logan:


A few days later - on August 28th - Logan got a new big boy collar. So, here are a couple of photos of Logan, who - if you're trying to keep track - by this time was four and a half months old, in his new big boy collar:


He got a new harness and lead too, because he was almost grown out of those as well. We took him to the park on August 30th to try those out. He hadn't been to the park before. He seemed to really enjoy it though. Here are a few photos of him exploring at the park:


Daddy did a video too, though you can't hear anything but the nice wind we had that day. I say it's a nice wind, because we were very glad of it after how hot some days have been, and it felt great in my fur. Anyway, here's the video:






Next, here are some photos of both me and Logan at the park:


Anyway, Logan got a new coat when he got his other new clothes too, but he hasn't needed to wear it yet. Mummy did try it on him to make sure it fits, but didn't get photos. She didn't end up getting photos of him in his baby coat either, because they didn't take the flashy thing with them when he had to wear it. Not that he wore his baby coat much, because we only wear our coats when it's really cold or wet out, and it hasn't been either of those things much lately. Some days it even got so hot there was no walkies at all, because Mummy and Daddy said it wasn't safe. I don't really understand why.

I didn't get any new clothes. I was a bit sad about that. OK, so I did get another new toy (sorry, no photos) and some treats as well. But that's totally not the point. I felt like I should have got new clothes too. I mean, there's nothing wrong with my old ones, but I felt a bit left out. It was the same day it took Mummy and Daddy hours to get my ball from where it was, so Mummy asked if that counted for anything. I told her it didn't. I felt better afterwards though, when Mummy played ball with me while Logan was still trying to do his sweetie ball.

At least I usually get included. For example: Mummy says we'll be going to town later. She says me and Logan both have an appointment with the groomer this afternoon at 1:00pm. It will be my little brother's first time being groomed. I hope he behaves. I know I will... I'm a good girl!

Before I go, here's one more photo of me, which was taken on the evening of September 4th:


Hope you enjoyed the video, and all the photos.

Lots of licks,
Lilie

#AmReading + #AmWatching - September 5th 2019 #Reviews

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.
~Paul Sweeney

It's time to take a look at what I've been reading and watching during this past week.

If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.

Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.

Don't forget: I read and watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before reading or viewing, to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved.

OK...

Here's what I read this week:

Scorned by Katrina Cope
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is definitely another excellent addition to this series. Dragons and teenage drama all in one fantastic package, with great characters you'll be glad to get to hang out with.
*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my opinion of the book, or the contents of this review.

Inflicted by Katrina Cope
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another awesome book by this author, and another excellent addition to this series. It's fantastic getting to see the characters - and their relationships with one another - evolving throughout the series, as the entertaining and action-packed plot unfolds. If you love dragons, you should definitely consider giving this one a read.
*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of the book, or the contents of this review.

As for what I've been watching:

I only watched one DVD during the past week: the second disk of season one of The Shannara Chronicles.

Actually, that's all I watched all week, unless you count snatches of episodes of various TV shows that were on when I was in the living room for whatever reason. But I wasn't paying much attention to those, so I'm not even going to bother mentioning what they were; I only paid enough attention to know what was on each time, if I'm honest. So... Yeah... They definitely don't count.

#WriterWednesday: #Quotes About #Reading And #Writing

I tell my students: If you are a writer, you have more power than the greatest tyrant in the world because of punctuation. You get to tell people how to breathe.
~Alicia Anstead

…write without looking over [your] shoulder. Write it as if no one is going to read it. That’s what frees you. If you can stop thinking about critics, and your editor, and whether your book’s going to make it into the Times, and how long it is going to be on the list, I mean, that can totally free you up.
~Terry McMillan

Don’t over-describe things. Part of the enjoyment of stories is building your own picture from the clues the author provides. One interesting bit of detail is worth far more than ten bland ones.
~Chris D’Lacey

Sometimes the author's first job is to just type and have the story tell itself to the reader. Authors are a vessel for our stories to travel in.
~Joy Fanning

The author & the reader "know" each other: they meet on the bridge of words
~Madeleine L' Engle

A book acts as the getaway car when you need to escape. Even when you're the one writing it.
~Julie Wright

…the book doesn’t only belong to the writer, it belongs to the reader as well, and then together you make it what it is.
~Paul Auster

Day To Day Life, August 27th - September 2nd 2019

I'm not going to give you every detail of every day for the past week. That would be long and boring. Not to mention, often rather repetative, since there are things - like reading before bed for a while, pet care, a lot of the housework, etc - that happen every day. But here's an overview of how each day went during this past week, plus daily weather reports. Just to give you a bit of a peek in to my day to day life, which I hope at least some of you will find interesting.

***~~~***

Tuesday the 27th of August was incredibly hot. Hot enough I had to use sunscreen to be able to sit at my computer, or I'd have risked getting sunburned. I even pulled the curtain closed after a while, deciding less air circulation was better than that much sun directly on me. That was not fun. I think the official temperature was something like 28 degrees C, but it felt hotter, and I know it registered in the mid 30s in our place.

I mostly spent the day just feeling hot and miserable, while trying not to let the furkids suffer from it. I'm sure it was really hard on Mollie especially, though I did all I could to make things as easy for them all as possible. At one point I was even sat on the floor by a fan, using a damp cloth to give the dogs a rub down, since they seemed to appreciate it. That shows how hot it was, since Logan especially was loving that, and he's the least keen on water of the pair of them. I may have used the cloth a bit on myself too. *wink*

***~~~***

The 28th of August was cooler, which was nice. But it was one of those days when it keeps raining on and off, but is quite warm, so the world is sticky and humid. It was a relief after the day before's heat though. Still not nice, but better. It was around 21 degrees C that day, so would have been OK if not for the humidity. That's on the higher end of the temperatures I can comfortably deal with, but much nicer than the day before had been, so I was relieved.

I'd planned to make it a writing day, but that didn't work out.

First the landlords wanted to come and fetch the rent (since they hadn't made it over the week before). While they were fetching the rent, we reminded them about the hob still needing to be replaced, and the skylight still needing to be fixed. Apparently they didn't realize he hadn't gotten to those things yet. The landlords promised to send someone around when they could, and apologized for it not having been done yet. As of the time I'm writing this post - which is nearly a week after the conversation took place - we still haven't had someone come sort the things though, nor do we have any idea when it might happen. *sigh*

Anyway, the other thing that happened was that the tax guy had to come back for me to sign my papers, since we had to file my tax paperwork again, because the head office has decided Kelly's no longer allowed to sign them on my behalf, despite his being legally allowed to usually if I request it, and having signed them with no problem every year since publishing my books meant I had to do tax paperwork. I'm not sure why they didn't give the guy that memo when things changed before, since his whole job is helping people with disabilities fill out tax paperwork, so you'd think they'd have told him. Whatever... It's done now. They'll just have to put up with my scribbled attempt at a signature. Honestly though, part of me was pleased they don't think blindness is a reason for me not to be allowed to sign for myself, since it gets a bit annoying when everyone prefers to defer to a sighted representative. It made me feel a bit more important.

***~~~***

August 29th thankfully wasn't overly hot, or humid. It was sunny, and about 20 degrees C at its hottest point, which was only for a while in the early afternoon... It was around 18 degrees C or lower during the morning, and 19 degrees C or lower in the late afternoon. So I decided to take advantage of this more comfortable weather to do some baking, just in case it got hot again.

I made Kelly some pumpkin-spice brownies, and some cinnamon cake. But I also made some vegan friendly stuff for myself, which was a lemon spice cake, and some lavender cookies. I'm pleased with how my cake and cookies turned out, though must remember next time to go a bit lighter on the lavender. Tip for anyone thinking of using that in baking: a little goes a long way, and you don't need much to get a lot of flavour. Anyway, I didn't take photos of Kelly's cakes, but here are some photos of my lemon spice cake and lavender cookies:


Lilie and Logan had been racing each other around the living room while we were baking - likely taking advantage of the cooler day themselves - which meant they crashed out for a nap after I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea and a sample of my cake and cookies. So I took advantage of their nap to get that writing time I hadn't gotten the day before, and finally finished the pirate themed adventure story I've been working on for close to two years... Or is it more than two years? You know, I actually don't remember for sure... Yeah, that just shows how long it's been.

I also found out I'd won a gift card in a giveaway one of my favourite authors was doing. So it was a good day in many ways.

I considered changing Mollie's post for last Friday - which I'd written the previous week - to mention the hot start to the week, since it talked about how temperatures had cooled down here recently. But I decided not to, since it seemed to have cooled back down again anyhow. Plus, Lilie and Logan woke up from their nap before I got a chance, and I didn't fancy trying to do it with them trying to get my attention... That's doable, but never much fun for any of us, so I avoid it when possible. It's always much easier to just do what I can during puppy nap time, unless I really "have to" do something time sensative while attempting to ensure they aren't causing mischief, which I thankfully don't have to do very often, but bribe them with treat balls when I do. Adding a note to Mollie's post about the hot start to the week just didn't seem like something important enough to worry about getting puppy co-operation for me to do. I only mention it now to clarify why her post says it had cooled down, and this one mentions hot weather. It probably doesn't bother you... You most likely didn't give it a thought... But it popped in to my head while I was writing this, and I feel better for clarifying.

***~~~***

It rained a bit in the early hours of the morning of August 30th, but was dry and sunny by the time we were up. Then the temperatures hovered around 19 degrees C. So, the temperature was comfortable, and even more so with the lovely breeze we had.

We took Lilie and Logan to the nearby park. Logan hadn't been to the park before, since we'd been walking along the seafront, but he seemed to love it. It tired him out though. Actually, both dogs were ready for a nap by the time we got home. Photos (and a video) of the dogs at the park will be in Lilie's post this coming Friday, but here are some flower photos we also took while at the park... I don't know what kind they are.


While Lilie and Logan took a nice long nap after our trip to the park, I uploaded their photos and video, got some blog posts you'll be seeing in the future written and scheduled, finally remembered to post on the threads I have on the groups I'm on over on Goodreads that my latest audio book was available, and then sorted some eMails. I did have an interview I was meant to be filling in, but the other things needed doing too, and my inbox was getting to be even more scary than normal, which is saying something considering how it looks most of the time.

***~~~***

August 31st was a bit warmer, with temperatures officially at 21 degrees C during the hottest part of the day, and only a degree or so hotter in our place. At the high end of what I can deal with, but it was tolerable heat, and at least there was a nice breeze coming in off the ocean that we could enjoy, so it didn't feel overly hot.

We made it a day to catch up with things we hadn't gotten to in the week. Mainly housework and eMails, so nothing fun.

By the way, if you ever wonder what a vegan might use the egg compartment some fridges have for, the top five answers are storing garlic bulbs, tomatoes, lemons, limes, and small fruits like kiwi. At least, they are according to the comments on a thread I saw on a vegan Facebook group, which was started when one member jokingly said how cool it was that her new fridge came with somewhere special for her kiwis to be stored. So, if you were wondering - which you probably weren't, but you might have been - now you know.

***~~~***

September 1st was a sunny Sunday. It was officially only 19 degrees C, but felt hotter. Honestly, until I checked what the actual temperature was, I thought it had to be in the mid 20s. There wasn't much in the way of cloud cover or a breeze though, so that will be why it felt hotter than it actually was.

I was disappointed not to be on the Hogwarts Express - like I am every year. Yeah, I know it's fiction, but I'd still eagerly go to Hogwarts if I could, and can't help a slight pang of disappointment each year when 11:00am on September 1st rolls around, and I know the Hogwarts Express will have left without me once again. But, alas, no Hogwarts for me... I'm still waiting for my letter. Judging by the response to my Facebook post on the subject, I'm not alone in my disappointment each year, and it's not only 11 year olds who still wait for their letter each Summer.

Anyway, since I wasn't going to Hogwarts - again - I watched some Shannara Chronicles. I almost broke out the Harry Potter DVDs instead, but decided to keep that for closer to Halloween, since those are great movies to watch while enjoying pumpkin themed treats. Plus, I was in the middle of watching season one of The Shannara Chronicles already. It was tempting to watch Harry Potter though, so I could at least go to Hogwarts that way.

I didn't do much else that day. Hey, it was Sunday, and Sundays are meant to be my days off, so... *shrugs*

***~~~***

Monday August 2nd (yesterday) started off quite cool. It was only 14 degrees C when I checked the temperature about an hour after I got up. Bearing in mind, Lilie and Logan get me up around 8:00am most mornings, and yesterday was no exception, so it would have been around 9:00am when I checked the temperature. It was lovely! It did warm up some, but thankfully not too much; the official temperature never went above 18 degrees C. At least, it hasn't gone above that up until the point I'm finalizing this post, which is on Monday afternoon. There's a nice breeze coming in off the ocean too, so it feels a bit cooler than it actually is, which is fine by me.

It was a laundry day, so I was especially glad it was a cooler one, since we unfortunately have little choice but to use the tumble dryer to dry our clothes. We do have an indoor airer, but between finding somewhere it can dry the clothes where I won't bump in to it, and our sock-thief puppies, it's not ideal to use that option, so we rarely do, even though I wish we could be using the tumble dryer less.

While the laundry was doing its thing, I first played with Lilie and Logan a bit, and then - when they were napping - got a couple of book reviews written for books I finished over the weekend, sorted some eMails, and finalized this blog post so it could be scheduled to go up at 9:00am on Tuesday morning. At the time I'm writing this, they're still napping, so I'm going to go sort some more eMails while that's still the case, since my day off yesterday means they've piled up again.

***~~~***

I hope you enjoyed this peek in to my day to day life.

#MondayMotivation, #Inspiration, And #Wisdom - #Quotes For September 2nd 2019

Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise.
~J. R. R. Tolkien

When you see something beautiful in someone, tell them. It may take seconds to say, but for them, it could last a lifetime.
~Unknown

It’s natural to be upset when faced with hardship. But try to pull yourself together. Your efforts won’t go to waste.
~Mufti Menk

Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.
~Harvey MacKay

The greatest act of courage is to be and to own all of who you are — without apology, without excuses, without masks to cover the truth of who you are.
~Debbie Ford

In the process of letting go you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.
~Deepak Chopra

If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.
~Robert Frost

#FurkidFriday: Mollie The #Chinchilla's Thoughts On Recent Happenings

Hi everyone. This is Mollie the chinchilla.



The day that photo was taken, the Mummy human was trying to get a shot of me playing on my wheel. But I didn't want her to, and would dash away from it every time she pointed the flashy thing at me. So, you'll have to put up with just a random shot of me in my cage. At least you get to see a photo of me, which you haven't for a while.

So, I'm finally getting a turn on this thing. Not that I have a lot to say. Mostly I keep to myself, watching my shows, playing on my wheel, having sand baths, and enjoying my nibbles. It would be nice if I got a bit more of a say on how things work around here though. Like the business with the Logan dog showing up a couple of months ago. No warning... Nothing! One day we just had the Lilie dog, and the next there were two dogs. What's up with that?

Well, at least he doesn't bother me. He just plays with the Lilie dog and the human caretakers. It gets a bit noisy around here sometimes with the two of them though. Thank goodness for the time when the human caretakers close the gate and make the dogs stay out of here for the night. That's mine and Joshua's favourite time.

Except we didn't get so much of it a few times this month. The human caretakers stayed in the living room watching things late, and we had to put up with the dogs in here with them. At least the human caretakers were watching decent shows. One time it was the Mummy human watching Goosebumps, and the other time the Daddy human was in watching stuff too, and they watched something about fantastic beasts. I think it had something to do with those Harry Potter movies the human caretakers love, which we've watched with the Mummy human loads of times. So that was good.

Another good thing is that the weather isn't so hot most days now. I really hate when it's hot. I don't cope well with hot weather, even though the Mummy human always hands out frozen peas and other cold nibbles, and I have plenty of cool water and my cooling pad and fan. I wish we didn't keep having storms, but we haven't really had many bad ones recently - not during August anyway - and it's worth it to get less heat on those days.

Squeak soon,
Mollie

#AmReading + #AmWatching - August 29th 2019 #Reviews

No two persons ever read the same book.
~Edmund Wilson

It's time to take a look at what I've been reading and watching during this past week.

If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.

Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.

Don't forget: I read and watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before reading or viewing, to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved.

OK...

Here's what I read this week:

UKD1 by Chris Harris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a really tough one for me to pick a rating for. On the one hand, I love the idea behind the plot, especially the fact it takes place in the UK, which doesn't seem to happen much in these kinds of books. On the other hand, the plot dragged, especially in the early chapters. If it had some editing to improve the pacing, and fix some of the issues where the author tells us things rather than showing them, this could be a fantastic read. As it is, it's only a kind of good read. Such a shame, because it has so much potential.

UKD2 by Chris Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was better than the first one in the series. I've seen people among its reviewers saying it was an amazing read. Well, I wouldn't go that far. I would, however, say this is a much more gripping read than the first in the series was, and that I enjoyed it more than I did the previous book.

UKD3 by Chris Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My actual rating is 3.5 stars, but I rounded up. Anyway, this was a pretty good ending to the trilogy, though it did suffer from a few deus ex machina moments, where solutions seemed a bit too convenient. It also suffers as much as the previous two books with too much telling, and not enough showing. So, a really good ending to the trilogy, but not the amazing ending some people are calling it.

As for what I've been watching:

I watched some episodes of season one of The Shannara Chronicles on the weekend. There are three disks to it, and I watched one of them. I had planned to watch the other two as well, but didn't end up doing so. I saw this first season of The Shannara Chronicles when it aired on TV a couple of years ago, and still think the same now as I did when I saw it before: it's really good, but not as good as the books.

I also watched a few random episodes of The Simpsons that were on TV, including some I hadn't seen before. One of them was an episode where Lisa is trying to write, and calling herself a "real writer" while procrastinating more than writing. I wish I could say that was one of their less believable episodes, like the ones with blind characters have been - those bother me to this day, and I still had some sight when I saw those, which shows how long ago it was I watched them, since I've been totally blind now for more than a decade. As it happens though, all I could think while watching that writer episode was how much I understood that, and how I'd been there myself way too often. So many shiny distractions...

#Pet Themed #Poetry #Book - My Friends Of Fur And Feather Now In #Audio!

A collection of 50 poems – ranging from amusing to emotional - written for some of the various pets my family or I have had.

The pets mentioned in this collection include 4 hamsters, 2 rabbits, 4 dogs, 7 cats, a guinea pig, and a budgie. All poems are captioned with details of the pets they are about.

Featured on the cover are Butterscotch Pudding the Syrian hamster, Castellan Keroberous the West Highland White Terrier, Myskanco “Chance” Silva Flame the Oriental cat, Stew Pot the Dwarf-Mix rabbit, Charlie’s Angel the Budgie, and Gwydion the Silver Agouti Teddy guinea pig.

Previously only available in eBook and paperback, my pet themed poetry collection, "My Friends Of Fur And Feather" is now available as an audiobook, read for you by Carol Weakland.

Regardless of the format you'd prefer to read it in, here are the main places where you can buy the book:

Audible, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, and The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

If you grab a copy, I hope you enjoy it. Also, a review would be great, if you could. It's not required, but reviews help authors sell books, and are a great way to support your favourite authors, so I'd really appreciate a review, either where you buy the book, on Goodreads, or wherever else you generally review books. Thank you!

The #Ocean, #Crafting Kits, Memories, Shoes, Toys, Weather, Dentist Appointments, And Kitchen Accessories

(Above photo of the ocean taken on August 23rd 2019).

Since it's been a couple of weeks again, I've got another post filled with two weeks worth of random stuff for you. Enjoy.

***~~~***

For those who like to know: my August Makerly kit was a dream catcher kit.

I really need to start doing these kits again... I'm getting quite a stack of them now.

We need to finish that unicorn - well, alicorn, if you want to get technical, since it's got both a horn and wings - we're meant to be finishing the painting job on too. It's almost done, but we keep not getting to it. Soon, I hope.

***~~~***

I got some new shoes. I didn't want to go shoe shopping, but I needed some, since I'd almost worn through the soles of mine. Not surprising, since it's been a few years since I had new shoes.

Anyway, here they are, for anyone who might want to see them:


***~~~***

I always get Lilie and Logan a present when I do a Pets @ Home order to get their food and such. This time it was dinosaur teddies, because I saw them, they were on sale, and I happen to like dinosaurs. Here they are:


I have some photos of the dogs with the dinosaurs, but I'll let one of them show those to you in their next post.

***~~~***

August 11th was the anniversary of when we lost Kero. It's been five years. I still miss him like it was yesterday.

I miss all the furbabies I've lost. But - for those who might be new here, so don't know - my Westie boy, Kero, was very special to me. I mean, they're all special to me, but... Well, I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say. So I found losing Kero the hardest, and am still finding it really hard five years later.

I'm glad we have Lilie and Logan, and I love them to bits. But they can never take Kero's place in my heart, or fully fill the void he left in it when he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

I tried not to think too much about it around the day. Facebook didn't help, since most of my memories lately have been things involving Kero, including a post I wrote the day after we lost him about how I was missing his barking, even though I'd probably have had a headache if he was there to bark, since there was plenty going on he would have been barking at that day. I still feel the same way.

I wish Facebook would show me more of my non-Kero related memories than my Kero related ones.

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I had dentist on August 14th. I was completely convinced for some reason it was at 11:00am, so got there a little before 10:30 for the appointment, which was a bit earlier than I needed to be, but not by much... Or that's what I thought. Turned out it was for 12:00pm, so I was actually more than an hour earlier than I needed to be. Good thing I had my Kindle with me, so I at least had something to do for that extra hour. Hey, at least I had the right day, and wasn't late!

They put a mask over just my nose, and gave me gas and air to have me slightly sedated while they did the work. Then he shot as much of the anasthetic stuff as he could in to my gums. Even with that, the best he could get was for me to be numbed and relaxed enough that the pain was slight enough that I could tolerate it enough to tell him to just do what he needed to do.

It wasn't so bad with the filling that needed replacing... I only felt a bit of pressure and slight discomfort with that. But the pulling of that tooth they broke during surgery earlier this year had me clenching my fists enough my hands hurt, even with everything he'd done to get me relaxed and numbed. But, hey, at least I didn't hit or bite him, and he was able to do it.

To be totally honest, I mostly just tolerated it to get it done. Partially to try and avoid being given stronger sedation via an IV, and partially because the tooth had started really bugging me. Enough that I was using clove oil to help deal with it, like people used to use on the gums of teething babies. For those who haven't done that: it works fantastically, if you like - or are prepared to put up with - the taste. It only gives relief for a few hours though, so you'll want to be prepared to apply a few drops to the sore area of the gum a few times a day - just so you know.

Afterwards, I sat in the waiting room for a bit, because he seemed to want me to. I wasn't concerned myself, since I was feeling OK - despite resembling a lopsided chipmunk - but I stayed for a bit to make him feel better. Then I came home, where I was greeted by two incredibly excited puppies, and the smell of the soup I had cooking in the slow cooker.

I don't usually do soup at this time of year. But I thought it would be a good idea for dinner the day of a dentist appointment, since it would be easier to eat with a potentialy sore or still slightly numbed mouth. It was fitting as it turned out, since it was a chilly and rainy day more suited to October than August, so soup appropriate weather. In fact, temperatures have been cooler most of the time over the past couple of weeks, and within the comfortable temperature range even when they weren't. Mostly it's been dry though, with only a few days as rainy as that day was. It was really nice, in my opinion. At least, until this past weekend, when temperatures rose again, and it was up in the high 20s, which I didn't like at all.

Anyway, as it happened, there was another reason besides the weather that I actually ended up glad I was planning soup for dinner the night after my dentist appointment (and the following night too). It turned out to be hard enough eating that. I guess a bit of tooth broke off and stayed in the gum. Not sure if the dentist realized and didn't think to mention it to me for some reason, realized and that's why he advised me to take painkillers when the stuff was starting to wear off (and gave me some spare gauze stuff to use if it hadn't stopped bleeding by the time I came home, despite having changed the gauze just before I left, and knowing I didn't have far to travel to go home) or didn't realize at all. All I know is, I definitely noticed afterwards, when the stuff wore off properly. Ended up on painkillers for a couple of days, and then using clove oil for a couple more days, because it made the healing a bit awkward and painful. Actually, a lot painful.

It's over with now though... Thankfully! Well, apart from some of the pain, since that's not completely gone. It's not as bad as it was at first though, I can eat normal foods again (though with some discomfort sometimes, if something rubs against the sore area) and I'm not reaching for pain relief the moment the previous dose runs out. In fact, I'm only bothering with any for bed time now. Hopefully the last of the pain will go away soon. Kelly - who had something similar happen in the past - assures me it will.

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Our kettle died ages ago - I did mention it on here - and we kept not getting around to replacing it. We'd just been boiling water in a pot to make hot drinks in the meantime. That way takes longer, but it was better than having no cups of tea.

Unfortunately for me, that meant there were no cups of tea when we had the cooker issues. On the bright side, that fact helped me get around to replacing the kettle, since I wanted tea, and at least I could make a kettle hurry up and arrive.

So, as of two weeks ago, we have a new kettle, which was being tried out within minutes of arriving, since I hadn't had a cup of tea in about a week by that point, and wasn't about to wait any longer. Haha!

I've honestly not gone that long without tea before in my adult life. Even in hospital there was tea. Not great tea, but tea all the same. I don't drink cup after cup of tea most days, but I usually have at least one cup in a 24 hour period, whether herbal or regular. So, I'm sure you can imagine how amazing that first cup of tea after all that time tasted to me, even though it was just a regular tea with almond milk and sugar in it.

Anyway, I also got a tofu press, which means I no longer have to either stand for ages pressing down on a chopping board that's on top of tofu, or find something heavy to do it for me, if I want firmer tofu. It also means I'm more likely to do recipes involving the firmer tofu, since pressing it will now be easier. A tofu press is something I've been wanting to get for a while. Since tofu is something I use a lot - it makes a great meat substitute, and a tasty alternative to scrambled eggs - I'm sure my little tofu press will get plenty of use... Almost as much use as my kettle. *wink*

Oh, for those who might be wondering: no. We don't have the hob replaced on the cooker yet. I'm not impressed.